PlaStix Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 (edited) Tiger ‘131’ is probably one of the best-known Tiger 1s and is currently the only operational Tiger 1 in the world. Captured by the British in Tunisia, in April 1943, it is now at The Tank Museum at Bovington, UK. As part of this project for the MTO II GB, I wanted to include some figures representing some of the crew and possibly their commander. There is still and air of mystery around the crew and some sources suggest that at least some of the crew survived the war but their identities have not, as far as I am aware, been revealed yet. I have included a photo below of the crew figures with '131' below but more can be found in the diorama and vignette section. *While doing some research for the project I also found out more about '131' that I didn't know. Some of you may be already aware of this, but I managed to miss it last year. It turns out that, as of September 2017, new research has shown that '131' was probably disabled quite a few miles away from where originally thought. The new location is at Point 174 rather than near Djebel Djaffa. Anyway - rather than me re-explaining it - more information can be found here: http://tankmuseum.org/year-news/bovnews63935 and here: http://blog.tiger-tank.com/tanks/happened-point-174-part-vi/- For this build I used Dragon's kit of '131' (Kit No. 6820). David Byrden was involved with the kit so it is considered to be quite accurate although David suggests some modifications on his Tiger1.info website http://tiger1.info/models/products-page/DR6820 to further improve it's accuracy. This was my first Tiger 1 in 1/35 and, I have to say, I had a great time building it. Kit: Dragon 1/35 No.6820 Paints: Humbrol, Revell, Citadel and Railmatch all applied by brush Weathering: Vallejo Thick Light Mud and Light Splash Mud Extras: Stretched sprue aerial, Lead wire for smoke launchers WIP: Here Vignette RFI: Here And finally just one to show it with it's base and figures: More photos of '131' with the figures and base can be found here. Thank you must go to everyone who contributed to my build thread in the MTO II GB and I'm really looking forward to making another 1/35 Tiger 1.......maybe with Zimmerit next time! Kind regards, Stix Edited July 27, 2018 by PlaStix 51 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince1159 Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Lovely job and photo's Stix..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Very nice Tiger Stix. Great work with the hairy stick, and the figures are excellent. Looking very sun tanned. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted July 23, 2018 Author Share Posted July 23, 2018 3 hours ago, Vince1159 said: Lovely job and photo's Stix..... Thank you very much Vince. Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kris B Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Nice tiger. Looks very good and those figures as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted July 23, 2018 Author Share Posted July 23, 2018 8 hours ago, Bullbasket said: Very nice Tiger Stix. Great work with the hairy stick, and the figures are excellent. Looking very sun tanned. John. Thank you very much John. It took quite a while to build up the sun tan and each time I was applying another coat of wash I was worried it was going to be too much! One figure ended up a bit too tanned in my opinion but hey - whose to say he hadn't been somewhere hotter just before?! Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzby061 Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 The Tiger looks great & the vignette sets it of nicely. The crew have certainly "got their knees brown". Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted July 23, 2018 Author Share Posted July 23, 2018 6 hours ago, Kris B said: Nice tiger. Looks very good and those figures as well. Hi Chris and thank you for your kind comments. Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsman Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Interesting that you chose the official camouflage that 131 should have been painted at the date of capture: RAL 7027 Grau over RAL 8020 Braun. However, when 131 was being rebuilt they found different original colours in areas that had not been repainted during her years in the UK, suggesting that she was actually painted in the older scheme of RAL 7008 Graugrun over RAL 8000 Gelbbraun. Based on that discovery, this is the scheme she was finished in after the rebuild. Shortage of the approved new paint colours in Tunisia or Italy (on the way) is a possible explanation. As a non-tropicalised tank built in Feb 43 and originally destined for Russia before 504 SPzAbt was diverted to N Africa, one assumes that the original factory finish was Panzergrau. It's just a bit too early for Dunkelgelb, and not being a tropicalised vehicle off the production line neither 8020 nor 8000 would have been used. But the presence of Panzergrau is not mentioned in any of the Museum material on the rebuild that I have seen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 14 hours ago, Buzby061 said: The Tiger looks great & the vignette sets it of nicely. The crew have certainly "got their knees brown". Pete Thank you very much Pete. They certainly did and I bet in real life it wasn't all sun. There must have been a lot of dust and dirt involved. Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary29 Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Wow, that's so real nice work! And even more impressive that no airbrushes were harmed in the making of it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soeren Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Beautyfully executed. Really like it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Wasley Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 An iconic tank,and another fine build from you as always and your attention to detail is first class.Cheers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted July 25, 2018 Author Share Posted July 25, 2018 On 23/07/2018 at 23:47, Das Abteilung said: Interesting that you chose the official camouflage that 131 should have been painted at the date of capture: RAL 7027 Grau over RAL 8020 Braun. However, when 131 was being rebuilt they found different original colours in areas that had not been repainted during her years in the UK, suggesting that she was actually painted in the older scheme of RAL 7008 Graugrun over RAL 8000 Gelbbraun. Based on that discovery, this is the scheme she was finished in after the rebuild. Shortage of the approved new paint colours in Tunisia or Italy (on the way) is a possible explanation. As a non-tropicalised tank built in Feb 43 and originally destined for Russia before 504 SPzAbt was diverted to N Africa, one assumes that the original factory finish was Panzergrau. It's just a bit too early for Dunkelgelb, and not being a tropicalised vehicle off the production line neither 8020 nor 8000 would have been used. But the presence of Panzergrau is not mentioned in any of the Museum material on the rebuild that I have seen. Hi Das. Your knowledge is amazing. Well done. Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 Very nice Tiger, it must hold the record on BM for the most photos too 😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 Hi Stix, If you'd posted every photo separately I'd have given you more than one like. With this Tiger and your previous Sherman I think you've hit the winning formula. I'm not saying you weren't already a fantastic model-maker before, it's just that these last two are even betterer! I dread to think what you'll be producing in a couple of years time! Rearguards Badder 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted July 26, 2018 Author Share Posted July 26, 2018 On 24/07/2018 at 08:52, Gary29 said: Wow, that's so real nice work! And even more impressive that no airbrushes were harmed in the making of it. Hi Gary and thank you very much for your very kind comments. Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrancisGL Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 A magnificent "big cat", very well finished and also very well documented, sorry to have lost me. I definitely have to make a Tiger one of these days ... Cheers Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etienne Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 Great paintjob with brush ... I'm really impressed !! E 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted July 28, 2018 Author Share Posted July 28, 2018 On 24/07/2018 at 09:17, Soeren said: Beautyfully executed. Really like it. That is very kind of you to say. Thank you Soeren. Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redcoat2966 Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Nice little "kitty" that Plastix.....yet another one I want to get my teeth into one day. I have some little connection in some way to the Bovington Tiger. My mother's uncle was involved in the capture and recovery of it when he was in the 8th Army. He was "volunteer'd" as they say to hod the area until the back up came to pick her up......as it was common policy I understand for the Germans always to come and get a recoverable AFV if they could. Really nice tight piece that...... Simon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted July 30, 2018 Author Share Posted July 30, 2018 On 25/07/2018 at 06:29, Jim Wasley said: An iconic tank,and another fine build from you as always and your attention to detail is first class.Cheers. Thank you very much Jim, you are very kind. Yes it is an iconic tank and I think Dragon did a nice job with this kit. It was actually a fun build. Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Now that is superb painting, love those figures too, exellent Glynn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted August 1, 2018 Author Share Posted August 1, 2018 On 25/07/2018 at 11:13, colin said: Very nice Tiger, it must hold the record on BM for the most photos too 😉 Thank Colin but no - you obviously haven't seen some of my other AFV and aircraft RFIs!!!! 😜 Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 Impressive Stix, do you think they miss this at Bovington? The huge hole in the fence probably gives it away though. Take care, Lloyd 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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